THE RELATIONSHIP OF BICYCLE MANEUVERABILITY TO HANDLEBAR CONFIGURATION

THE GROWING USE OF BICYCLES BY ALL AGE GROUPS COUPLED WITH THEIR INVOLMENT IN NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS HAS INCREASED THE IMPACT OF BICYCLES AS A HIGHWAY SAFETY PROBLEM. SINCE THE HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS OR BICYCLES CAN AFFECT THEIR SAFETY, THE PRESENT EXPERIMENT EVALUATED THE MANEUVERABILITY OF THREE BASIC HANDLEBAR CONFIGURATIONS: RACING (DROP), STANDARD, AND HIGH RISE. THE PERFORMANCE OBSERVED ON THE BICYCLES WITH HIGH RISE AND STANDARD HANDLEBAR CONFIGURATIONS INDICATED THEY WERE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER. ON THE CIRCLE, FIGURE 8, AND SLALOM TASKS, PERFORMANCE WITH BOTH THE HIGH RISE AND STANDARD HANDLEBARS WAS SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER THAN THE RACE. THE HIGH RISE SHOWED A SLIGHT PERFORMANCE EDGE ON TASKS REQUIRING THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF MANEUVERING, WHILE THE STANDARD HANDLEBARS OFFERED MORE CONTROL AT SLOWER SPEEDS, AND ON TASKS REQUIRING STABILITY IN TRACKING.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Rept No UM-HSRI-HF-TM-73-5
• Corporate Authors:

  Highway Safety Research Institute

  Huron Parkway and Baxter Road
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • Mortimer, R G
  • Domas, P A
  • Dewar, R E
• Publication Date: 1973-6-18

Media Info

• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 29 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bicycles; Crash investigation; Cyclists; Handling characteristics; Highway safety; Maneuverability; Performance tests; Steering; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Handling
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224401
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 20 1974 12:00AM